


A Nibble

by MakingPoetry



Series: Albtraum 2.0 [13]
Category: The Covenant (2006)
Genre: Biting, Gen, M/M, Vampire Bites, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakingPoetry/pseuds/MakingPoetry
Summary: Chase and Tyler have a serious conversation about their relationship status and Tyler's relationship status with the other Sons. Chase meets a vampire.
Relationships: Chase Collins/Tyler Simms
Series: Albtraum 2.0 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813285
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	A Nibble

Predictably, Caleb had been upset. Not with Tyler, but with the situation itself. And he was a little bit upset with Chase, too. Caleb had worked hard to make sure they all understood the importance of keeping their secret, and here Chase had gone and exposed at least himself to the very first hunter who'd come along. At the same time, he'd also acknowledged that they hadn't had much of a choice with the hunter pulling a knife on Tyler and threatening him. It was a complicated situation all around, honestly.

A potentially dire situation didn't stop Tyler and Chase from sneaking into the school swimming pool late one evening though. It was safer than going out right now, and they weren't going to Use, so there was really nothing that Caleb could complain about here. Except the fact that he still didn't like Chase. There was nothing Tyler could do to change his mind about _that_.

"So," Chase said, breaking the comfortable silence as they lazily swam around, not quite doing laps. "You're dating Reid, but you're also dating me."

"Mhmm." Tyler had a feeling there was more to it than that, so he waited, treading water.

"Does that mean you have an open relationship?"

Tyler should have expected these kinds of questions. He'd never talked about his relationship status with other people outside of the group unless it was someone he was dating. Which meant he usually didn't talk about it.

"Kind of," he said. "The four of us have been dating for a while. We can date other people, but it usually doesn't last long." After a beat, he added, "Not that I don't expect us to last, I just mean-..."

Chase waved him off, more interested in other things than the topic of how long they were going to last, apparently. "Never would've considered the four of you a thing," he said. "What happened to Sarah and Kate? Caleb and Pogue seemed pretty serious about them."

Tyler shrugged as much as one _could_ shrug while swimming. "You kind of scared Sarah off from Caleb," he admitted. "And Pogue was too jealous for Kate to handle." It felt weird talking about their personal lives with Chase, but he _had_ asked. "Last I saw them, Kate and Sarah were pretty happy together."

Chase's eyebrows raised. "Well, I didn't see that coming."

Tyler laughed. "Neither did we, but whatever makes them happy, you know?"

Nodding, Chase considered things for a moment. "So, the four of you. _You're_ happy with that?"

"Yeah," Tyler confirmed. "It was weird at first, but now it just...feels right." Like the four of them were meant to be, through thick and thin, no matter what was thrown at them. As friends _and_ lovers. "It doesn't invalidate my feelings for anyone else, though," he added, in case that was what Chase was worried about. _If_ Chase was worried about anything. 

Chase shrugged. "Are they okay with _us_?"

Tyler hesitated. "I don't think they're upset I'm dating someone, it's just that it's...you."

"I'm shocked," Chase said, completely deadpan.

"They might come around, eventually."

Caleb already seemed to tolerate Chase more than he had even a few weeks ago. Tyler couldn't guarantee that Reid and Pogue would change their minds so fast, but it was a possibility, at least.

"And hell might freeze over," Chase retorted with a snort.

"It might." Tyler swam closer. "But I'm here, and I don't _need_ them to like you." It would be nice, but he also completely understood why they didn't. Even now, he hadn't forgotten anything Chase had done or what he was capable of. A few days ago in his dorm he'd been reminded of _exactly_ what Chase could do.

Smirking, Chase tugged Tyler close, draping his arms around his shoulders. If someone had told him a few weeks ago that Tyler would be willingly spending time with him, kissing him even, he would never have believed it. "I only want _you_ anyway."

To think, a few weeks ago, Chase had told him he'd never date him, and now here they were. And yet...there was still another question on Tyler's mind, something he'd never asked Chase, despite the fact Chase had known he was dating Reid. "Are _you_ okay with...all of this?"

"What, you having four boyfriends?" Chase shrugged. "You're a greedy little shit, but I can't take you away from them." Not because he didn't want to, but because he knew Tyler and the others would never stand for it.

Tyler wilted for a moment, until Chase kissed him. He was sensitive to teasing about his relationship status, but Chase was _just_ teasing him. He was okay with things...right? "Which means...?"

Chase sighed a little. "Which means I'm here until you want me to leave." At this point, that was the only thing that could make him leave Ipswich. Not Caleb and the others, but Tyler growing sick of him.

\-----

Things were changing in Ipswich. It had always been relatively quiet, supernaturally speaking, but that was starting to shift. It wasn't because of the witches, or even the werewolf and the hunter who'd been chasing it. It was just the natural way of the world. Sometimes things changed, people came and went, and people were coming into Ipswich, following nothing more than their whims.

Nickey's was as crowded as it ever was on a Saturday night, and usually this would have been a perfect opportunity for Chase to spend more time with Tyler, but Tyler was busy. That meant Chase was on his own, wolfing down some cheesy fries. By the time he was picking at the last few fries, he'd realized that someone was watching him.

He casually scanned the crowd until he caught sight of the teenager who kept glancing at him. He was only a little bit older than Chase himself, easy on the eyes, and smiled when he caught Chase's attention. Chase smiled back, watching as the redhead weaved his way through the crowd in his direction.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" he said, gesturing to the empty chair across from Chase.

Chase shook his head. "Be my guest," he said.

Grinning, the redhead pulled the chair out and settled himself down. "Are you here by yourself?"

"Tonight I am." Chase shrugged.

The redhead nodded. "Do you dance?" he asked. "Also I'm Alexis." He leaned over the table, holding out a hand. "And before you ask, it's unisex."

"Chase," he said, leaning forward to shake hands. "And I wasn't going to say anything about it. Also, don't really dance."

Leaning back in his chair, Alexis considered his answer for a moment. "What about pool? I'm pretty bad, but it's still fun."

Chase grinned. "Sure, if you want to get your ass kicked."

"I don't care," Alexis said with a laugh. "Maybe I'll learn something." He pushed his chair back, getting to his feet again.

Chase followed suit, leading the way to the pool table and getting things set up. "So do you go to Spenser?"

Alexis laughed again, shaking his head. "No. God no. I graduated high school last year."

"What brings you to Ipswich, then?" Chase asked, handing him a pool cue. "The exciting night life?"

Shrugging, Alexis took the cue. "I dunno. I just felt like I needed a change of scenery. Somewhere that wasn't California."

Chase whistled. "Ipswich's a long way from California. You must've really wanted that change of scenery."

"Thank you, captain obvious," Alexis said with a laugh. "And yeah, I was pretty serious about it."

"What about your friends?"

Alexis shrugged. "Didn't have any. Not any I was close enough with to stop me from moving, anyway."

"I know the feeling," Chase said.

Alexis gave him a look, mouth twitching into the ghost of a smile. "I guess you _were_ sitting here alone," he said.

As their game of pool progressed, it became obvious that Alexis hadn't been lying about being terrible at it, but he also didn't mind when he lost horribly. Maybe he was charmed by Chase, or maybe he was just genuinely lonely, but he seemed to really enjoy their friendly banter. He wasn't bad to talk to, either.

"Hey, at least we weren't playing for money," Alexis said.

Chase grinned, leaning his hip against the pool table. "We could play again."

Alexis laughed. "I'd rather not lose more than my pride," he joked.

"If you're sure," Chase said.

"I'm sure," Alexis told him.

Nodding, Chase said, "Well, thanks for the game, but I should get going."

"No problem, it was nice meeting you," Alexis said, perfectly polite.

"You, too," Chase said.

Gathering up his jacket and putting it on, he headed out of Nickey's and began the walk home. The night air was chill, not cold enough to snow, but it would be in the coming days. 

The walk was pleasant enough, except for the nagging feeling that someone was watching him. Every time he looked around, he never saw anything out of the ordinary, but he couldn't help but worry that it was the hunter from a few days ago. He didn't know if his threat had been effective, or if they were all screwed. Either way, he'd done what he had to to protect Tyler, and he wasn't going to change his mind about that.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled, but again when he looked behind him there was no one there. Chase didn't like this feeling; things weren't supposed to make him feel uneasy. 

Taking a detour from his usual path home, he cut down an alley, pulling his hands out of his pockets in case he needed to defend himself. There was the lightest sound of footsteps behind him and then he was spun and shoved back against the alley wall. Before anything else, he saw long, sharp teeth descending towards his throat and lashed out, kneeing his attacker in the crotch. It was surprisingly effective and gave him the opportunity to shove his attacker away. He raised his fist to throw a punch, but his hand was caught lightning quick.

"Calm down!" Alexis hissed, his fangs catching the dim light in the alley.

" _Calm down_?" Chase repeated, glaring at him. "You _attacked_ me."

"I wasn't going to hurt you!" Alexis protested, letting go of Chase's hand.

"Bullshit."

"Alright, I wasn't going to _kill_ you," Alexis amended.

"What are you?" Chase demanded.

Alexis hesitated, running his tongue over his teeth.

"Humans don't have teeth like that," Chase pressed.

"I'm a vampire," Alexis admitted. "So I wasn't going to _kill_ you, just take a little nibble."

"Uh-huh." After werewolves and werewolf hunters, vampires weren't as surprising as they would have been otherwise. "You're not biting me."

"Well, this is a problem," Alexis said. "Since I'm hungry and you know what I am."

"It's not my fault you're terrible at keeping secrets," Chase retorted.

Alexis bared his fangs, grumpy instead of angry. "I'm sure I can change your mind."

"You have nothing that I want," Chase told him.

"Really?" Alexis tilted his head to the side. "Not even eternal life?"

Chase started to reply but then stopped short, straightening up. He wasn't sure about eternal _life_ , but eternal _youth_ would solve all of his problems. He'd never have to worry about Using too much ever again. Assuming it worked that way, at least.

Alexis noticed the way his expression had changed and smiled. "A lot of people like the eternal life part. You shouldn't toss that option away so fast."

"How does that solve _your_ problems?" Chase asked. He'd learned the hard way that things weren't always as good as they seemed.

Alexis shrugged. "Well...I get to bite you, and you share my secret too." It was a win/win in his book.

"We should talk about this," Chase said. "But not here."

\-----

Alexis had made himself at home, sprawled on Chase's couch like they'd known each other for a year instead of a few hours. He _had_ needed to be invited in though, proving that some of what the media said about vampires was true, but that was the least of Chase's worries. He wasn't worried about this backfiring on him, about Alexis coming back to bite him in the middle of the night or something. Chase was confident in his ability to take care of himself.

"What do you _gain_ from being a vampire?" Chase asked.

Alexis considered that for a moment, combing his fingers through his hair. Now that his fangs were retracted again, Chase would never have been able to tell what he was if he hadn't already known. " _Besides_ eternal life and never aging? Power. Strength, speed. We don't turn into bats or shit like that, but you can pretty much see in the dark."

"And the downside?"

Alexis made a thoughtful sound. "You have to drink blood, of course," he started. "Sunlight's bad, there's the whole 'need to be invited in' thing. Churches are kind of bad too, hope you're not religious. Um. Oh right, stakes, sounds cliche, totally not."

"Is that all?" Chase said.

Laughing, Alexis shook his head. "The sunlight part's pretty big," he said. "So's the blood drinking. That scares some people off. Can't blame 'em."

Chase shook his head. "I'm not easily scared."

"Yeah, I got that impression when your first instinct was to fight back," Alexis said, sounding amused. "What else do you want to know?"

"How hard is it to feed?"

"Surprisingly not that hard-" Alexis started.

"When you're not an idiot?" Chase interrupted.

Alexis flipped him off good-naturedly. "Yeah, whatever. But it's easier than you'd think. There's a lot of blood bars--that is, special bars for vampires to find dinner--and a lot of people like being bitten. You might be surprised about how many people think it's sexy."

Chase already thought normal biting was sexy; he could easily see how people would be interested in a more extreme version of it. "Is there a blood bar in Ipswich?" he asked curiously.

"Actually, yeah," Alexis admitted. "The Charming Rogue, that'd be your place to go."

"If there's a blood bar here, why'd you go after me?"

Alexis looked sheepish. "Because you're hot. And I was stupid."

"I'm flattered, but I have a boyfriend," Chase told him.

Alexis laughed, a little relieved. "That's fine. I mean, good. For you and him." 

"He's very lucky to have me," Chase said solemnly.

Alexis laughed again, brown eyes bright. "Was that all you wanted to know?" he said, steering the conversation back to their main topic.

"Yeah." Chase nodded. "For now. You've been very helpful. I guess the least I can do is let you have a bite." It had more to do with his own curiosity than it did doing anything nice for Alexis, but it would work out for both of them assuming there weren't any strings attached.

Alexis perked up, sitting up straighter. "Seriously?"

Nodding again, Chase started to get up from his chair, but Alexis gestured him back down, rising from the couch. Chase having a boyfriend did nothing to stop Alexis from straddling his lap, resting his hands on his shoulders. He made himself comfortable before sliding a hand into the hair at the back of Chase's head, gently tugging to the side. His fangs had already lengthened, and he made a quiet sound when he leaned in close, smelling the blood pumping in Chase's veins.

They were close enough for Chase to realize that Alexis was a few degrees cooler than a person should be, but not cold enough to be a corpse. He rested his hands on Alexis's hips, readily tilting his head for him. His pulse spiked when he felt Alexis's breath on his neck, his lips pressing to his skin. There was no turning back in this moment, but Chase didn't want to.

There was a brief, sharp pain when Alexis's fangs sank into his neck, piercing his skin, but it faded surprisingly quick, giving way to a surge of adrenaline and a wave of pleasure. He wasn't sure if he or Alexis groaned, but one of them made a sound before Alexis started to drink. His hands tightened on Alexis's hips, and it was definitely the vampire who groaned this time when he tasted Chase's blood.

Alexis drank a few gulps before lifting his head, licking blood from his lips. He was strangely breathless, like he'd run a marathon instead of biting into Chase's neck, and took a moment to try and compose himself before he said anything.

" _Shit_. What _are_ you?" he asked.

Chase raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Humans don't taste like this," Alexis said.

Throwing caution to the wind, Chase let his eyes bleed black, Power seeping from his hands as he Used on Alexis. It was the same trick he used on Tyler and it almost felt a little like cheating.

"Oh _fuck_." Alexis shivered against him, ducking his head to go in for a kiss.

Chase put a hand on his chest, holding him back while shaking his head. He wouldn't cheat on Tyler, no matter how enticing Alexis was, and this _would_ be cheating. It wouldn't be like Tyler's relationship with the other Sons of Ipswich.

Alexis took a deep breath, nodding. "Right. Sorry." Sitting back, he took another breath. "So you're..."

"A witch," Chase finished, eyes fading back to blue.

"Right. That's new," Alexis said.

"Not really."

Alexis gave him a _look_ , reluctantly sliding off his lap. "Thanks," he said, "For letting me bite you."

Chase shrugged, grateful that Alexis was putting some distance between them. That seemed like a good idea right now. "Thanks for telling me about vampires."

Alexis nodded. "I assume you haven't decided on anything yet," he said, "So I'll just let you think about it. And give you my number."

That sounded like a solid plan to Chase, and he fished his phone out of his pocket with one hand even while he touched his neck gingerly with the other. The bite wasn't bleeding anymore, but it was tender.

"That should heal up in a few days," Alexis said, punching his number into Chase's phone. "Maybe a week."

"Good to know," Chase said, taking his phone back when Alexis was finished with it.

Alexis nodded, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. "I guess I'll be going," he said.

"You know where the door is."

Alexis squinted at him, like he wasn't sure if Chase was being rude or not. Then he shrugged and headed for the front door, letting himself out. 

He'd given Chase a lot to think about.


End file.
